Power goes off before completion of animation

[srmalloy]

So far, I've only found this in the "Get Proton to help you!" mission from Twinshot, but when I use the Nemesis Staff or Blackwand against the String Relay Transmitters, the blast from the power goes off about 1/4 of the way through the animation, leaving you waving your stick around after it's already fired. This happens only when attacking these objects; when used against any of the mobs in the mission, both powers animate and fire normally.

[EggKookoo]

Generally, I think yes, powers actually "happen" instantly in terms of apply their effects.

[Chuckers]

I've noticed this on several powers, not just the staff and blackwand. The moment you hit the key, the game resolves the hit/miss result and some of the receiving animations are happening before the attack animations are complete.This is why you will often see npcs "duck/dodge" as if they've been hit before the power actually hits them.. then they product the proper reaction animation when it actually does hit.

[Solarverse]

I was noticing this last night on my Grav Dom with Dimension Shift. The poqwer would animate before my character even moved to cast the power.

[Redlynne]

Nemesis Staff does this when attacking Reinforced Doors (for the prison cells) inside Arachnos Lab maps.

Against other targets (like Arachnos) this does not occur, so it appears to be an animation keying error dependent upon the target being attacked.

[RussHood]

This is just another symptom of the age/spaghetti-ness of the code. Certain targets/actions will break or cancel animation sequences. It may look a little funny, but has no negative impact (aside from immersion)

[srmalloy]

Generally, I think yes, powers actually "happen" instantly in terms of apply their effects.

 

With both Blackwand and Nemesis Staff, the attacks work the same way -- you draw the weapon, assume a stance with the weapon held vertically at arm's length behind you, you sweep it forward, ending with the weapon held horizontally out in front of you pointing at the target, and then the blast flies from the tip of the weapon to the target at which point they take damage (and KB, for the Nemesis Staff). Yes, the hit/miss for the attack is determined when you activate the power (with the animation picking a 'high and right' direction for firing the attack), but the blast always comes at the end of the swing. The bug is that, when used against objects, the blast fires when you pull the weapon back behind you, and you complete the animation while the blast is flying. It doesn't affect the operation of the powers, except that the attack goes off earlier (leaving the animation to complete, so it doesn't affect any rotation you have). Aside from the minor benefit of potentially downing or interrupting your target before it can attack back there's no real game effect of the bug.

 

Animations can be weird, too. I've never been able to duplicate it, and wish I had a demorecord of it, but fairly early in the original run of the game, my AR/EM Blaster had shot M80 Grenade at a Tsoo Red Ink Man. The grenade had reached the top of its arc and was descending when the Tsoo hit me with Siphon Speed and took off at full speed. I watched my grenade make a sharp turn in mid-air, heading back up and arcing off out of view range as it chased the escaping Tsoo. Only by the defeat notice and XP/inf award about 15 seconds later did I know that my grenade had reached its target.

[Zep]

I see stuff like your Tsoo every once in a while.

 

On my PB I'll see various bolts make a right/left turn to catch up with a moving target. Seems to happen more often on him then other sets.

 

On my Stalker it gives mobs the chance to retaliate for assassins strike or other out of stealth attacks. I walk up AS the mob falls to the ground and then shoots me. Not every time.

[srmalloy]

On my PB I'll see various bolts make a right/left turn to catch up with a moving target. Seems to happen more often on him then other sets.

 

This is known from the start of the game. The game actually makes the to-hit roll when the attack is activated, so it knows to play a 'miss' animation if you miss. If the attack hit, then the power visuals will hit the target, no matter how long it takes to catch up. The power fires in the correct direction to fly straight to the target based on the target's position when the attack animation finishes, then travels to the target. If the target moves while the attack visual is chasing it, the path of the attack visual will change to follow the target. Snipes, in particular, are often good examples of this; it's fairly common to see a mob take off as or just before your Snipe fires, and you watch the power visual tracking the target like a heat-seeking missile. In fact, seeing your attack curve tells you that you hit, letting you make decisions about your next attack before the shot actually lands.